Twittering Away at Ministry

Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, or many other social networks, is really a disconnect. Even though these are very useful media and can be used for outreach and gaining interests on all levels, there is a philosophical difference between them and the heart of authentic ministry. I'm not condemning them (I'm on all of them). But the heart of ministry defies their very limited scope.

Let me explain: The world is now a context-less mass of jumbled thoughts one on top the other. If I don't like this thought, I go to the next. As if watching a giant TV, we are a collection of highly opinionated individuals given to meaningless chatter, easy arguments over stupid things, and a concomitant disinterest in anything of substance. While we can engage in important ministries of various kinds utilizing the social networks, they are not the place where ministry finds its soul.

So-called "Christian" society has been seduced into this wasteland of shallow thinking and impatient practice (and sometimes is one its greatest advocates). And they have done it when they have been specifically called to something quite the opposite. (But in today's churches, who wants to hear that!)

Recently, N.T. Wright spoke to a group of 900 attendees in California on the topic of virtue. Here's a report about that:

Wright, quoting St. Paul’s exhortation to be “transformed by the renewing of your minds,” emphasized that the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives doesn’t preclude the need to be thoughtful and disciplined when it comes to living out our identities as new creations in Christ. “Our culture prefers effortless spontaneity with occasional divine intervention in emergencies,” Wright stated, “but virtue is what happens when wise and courageous choices have become second-nature,” a process requiring time and intentionality. He likened the practice of virtue to the challenge of learning a second language. “We will often get it wrong,” he said, “but it’s worth persisting for the goal of what lies ahead.” [Source]

Time and intentionality; focus and deliberation; allowing ourselves to get to know someone or something well enough for that person or thing to become part of us: this is not the culture we live in anymore! Certainly, we must learn how to engage in ministries of various kinds within that reality. But we don't want that confused and disconnected reality to define the heart of ministry.

The heart and soul of CoffeeWithPaul.com and of BibleDashboard.com, and of this very blog about Authentic Ministry, are all about reading Scripture responsibly, contextually, and as if in conversation. This does not happen by accident or overnight. It happens through the power of the Spirit as we submit to that Spirit in energetic, focused, and yet humble conversation.

This is not a message that many Christians seem to care about today. Later, I'll talk about the marketing mantra of giving the people what they want, and what has developed in the devotional world of doing exactly the same thing. Later.